After another accident, longtime resident concerned with safety on Chippewa near Ted Drewes
SOUTH ST. LOUIS (First Alert 4) - Chris Wiley has lived across the street from St. Louis staple, Ted Drewes, on Chippewa for over 20 years.
Wiley tells First Alert 4, “Normally on a Sunday night at that time, I would have been over there with my grandchildren, which is really frightening to me that we could have been there.”
Six people are recovering, including an off-duty police officer, after being hit by a car at the popular establishment.
According to St, Louis Metropolitan police, the man driving that car was 19-year-old Rasool Al Janabi. He is now out on a recognizance bond after being charged with five counts of leaving the scene of an accident causing physical injury.
“After the first two people were killed crossing the street there, everybody said they should do something about the traffic,” says Wiley.
There have been multiple crashes near the business, including two pedestrians who were hit and killed while crossing the street since 2022.
The city says safety improvements along Chippewa are scheduled for January-March of 2025.
Wiley isn’t convinced. The project was initially delayed because of money, and now it’s not moving forward due to supply delays.
After 20 years of watching the road continue to get more dangerous, the grandmother hopes the city will finally make good on its promise to make the street safer.
“When it comes to public safety there should be no expense spared, and there should be there should be no waste of time to fix a problem like this. Somebody else is going to be hurt or killed out here again if they don’t get it done soon,” Wiley says.
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